Feed the Spiders

Prepare your Site for Successful Search Engine Indexing

August 2003 NOTE: Although this article was written over 2 years ago most of the information is still relevant. Although keyword meta tags aren't as important as they once were for search engine optimization, it's still a good idea to have a list of keywords to work with when optimizing the site. -cg

April 2001. Although it used to be a fairly easy (or at least inexpensive) task to list your site with the search engine sites, it has never been an easy task to get your site listed near the top of the search results on any of the major search engines.

Today, the process to submit a site is becoming more complex. Some search sites now charge a fee just to consider your site for listing, others have you bid on keywords and charge you for clickthroughs. Those that are still free may have strict procedures to follow during the submittal process.

It's all becoming quite complicated and time consuming. But the good news is that the complexity and fees may improve your ability to get a better ranking if you're willing to spend the time and money to get there.

There are many procedures involved in preparing your site for submittal to major search engines. The first step is to make sure your site is optimized for search engine indexing. There are four major areas that can help to ensure accurate indexing.

1. Use relevant and precise titles in your html documents. You're allowed up to 70 characters so provide as much descriptive information as possible. Include your company name and descriptions of the content of the page.
   
   
2. Use Keyword and Description Meta Tags. Meta tags are within the source code of the document. Think about what words a potential customer would be likely to use as search terms when seeking out a business such as yours. Make a list and provide it to the person who is maintaining or developing your web site. You're allowed up to 250 characters. For the description meta tag write a coherent sentence of 250 characters or less that describes your site. Again, think about what phrases a person would use in searching for the information found on your site.
   
   
3. Make sure your body text is informative. Write clear, relevant copy for your pages and try not to enshroud them in graphics. Search engines read and index text not graphics. While a picture may be worth a 1000 words to human eyes, search engines are for the most part automated and are looking for copy that coincides with the keywords, descriptions and titles of your pages.
   
   
4. Concentrate on quality not quantity. It used to be that more sites linked to your site would help you get a high ranking on search engines. But search engines are evolving--they are less concerned with the number of sites linked to yours than the relevancy and quality of those sites. Their goal is to provide the most relevant comprehensive information on the topic of interest. Help them achieve that goal--seek out and request links on sites that cater to your industry.